Apr 28, 2009
Apr 16, 2009
Artist Lishan Chang uses road kill in art to highlight tension between man, nature
BY John Lauinger
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 15th 2009, 4:00 AM
Artist Lishan Chang in his Jamaica, Queens studio working on a dead animal.
This art project is dead meat - even if critics love it.
Taiwan-born artist Lishan Chang is using road kill as the centerpiece of an art exhibit that will spotlight the harm modern civilization has wrought upon the natural world.
For the last six months, Chang, a multimedia artist from Woodside, has scoured highways and country roads looking for remains of creatures that never made it to the other side.
Chang uses taxidermy to preserve his grisly quarry, working in a downtown Jamaica studio that smells of flesh and salt from the macabre pursuit.
The project is about a year from completion, but Chang already envisions an eye-catching design: Costumed mannequins holding animal pelts in their hands - a representation, he said, of how they were killed by nameless, faceless humans.
Most of the dead animals, Chang said, were likely foraging for food when they wandered into the path of human civilization.
"They just want to survive," Chang, 39, said of the creatures. "It's just so sad - so sad. I wanted to say something about that."
Chang has photographed scores of roadside remains - deer, foxes, raccoons, rabbits, even dogs. He plans to create a photo exhibit using Google Earth that will map the location where each animal was killed.
On a recent morning, Chang wore a surgical mask as he labored over a Canada goose carcass. Behind him, the remains of a raccoon, a squirrel and a rabbit soaked in plastic vats filled with a chemical solution.
Chang, formerly an artist in residence at the lower Manhattan Cultural Council, is no stranger to unusual artistic media. He has previously used charred bread to reinterpret Chinese calligraphy and protest post-9/11 security crackdowns.
Chang said he likes to push the artistic envelope and force people to think about the concepts that underlie his work.
But he admitted that it took him some time - plus formal taxidermy training - before he could stomach handling road kill.
"You just have to prepare yourself to touch them," the artist said, noting he has preserved the remains of about 50 animals.
The project, currently titled "Accident Realm," is sponsored by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts.
It will appear in a group exhibit in May 2010 at the Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art in Taiwan, said Chang, who hopes to land a solo exhibit in New York.
Chang said he also plans to exhibit the project at his Jamaica studio, which is owned by the Greater Jamaica Development Corp. and leased by chashama, a Manhattan-based arts group.
jlauinger@nydailynews.com
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 15th 2009, 4:00 AM
Artist Lishan Chang in his Jamaica, Queens studio working on a dead animal.This art project is dead meat - even if critics love it.
Taiwan-born artist Lishan Chang is using road kill as the centerpiece of an art exhibit that will spotlight the harm modern civilization has wrought upon the natural world.
For the last six months, Chang, a multimedia artist from Woodside, has scoured highways and country roads looking for remains of creatures that never made it to the other side.
Chang uses taxidermy to preserve his grisly quarry, working in a downtown Jamaica studio that smells of flesh and salt from the macabre pursuit.
The project is about a year from completion, but Chang already envisions an eye-catching design: Costumed mannequins holding animal pelts in their hands - a representation, he said, of how they were killed by nameless, faceless humans.
Most of the dead animals, Chang said, were likely foraging for food when they wandered into the path of human civilization.
"They just want to survive," Chang, 39, said of the creatures. "It's just so sad - so sad. I wanted to say something about that."
Chang has photographed scores of roadside remains - deer, foxes, raccoons, rabbits, even dogs. He plans to create a photo exhibit using Google Earth that will map the location where each animal was killed.
On a recent morning, Chang wore a surgical mask as he labored over a Canada goose carcass. Behind him, the remains of a raccoon, a squirrel and a rabbit soaked in plastic vats filled with a chemical solution.
Chang, formerly an artist in residence at the lower Manhattan Cultural Council, is no stranger to unusual artistic media. He has previously used charred bread to reinterpret Chinese calligraphy and protest post-9/11 security crackdowns.
Chang said he likes to push the artistic envelope and force people to think about the concepts that underlie his work.
But he admitted that it took him some time - plus formal taxidermy training - before he could stomach handling road kill.
"You just have to prepare yourself to touch them," the artist said, noting he has preserved the remains of about 50 animals.
The project, currently titled "Accident Realm," is sponsored by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts.
It will appear in a group exhibit in May 2010 at the Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art in Taiwan, said Chang, who hopes to land a solo exhibit in New York.
Chang said he also plans to exhibit the project at his Jamaica studio, which is owned by the Greater Jamaica Development Corp. and leased by chashama, a Manhattan-based arts group.
jlauinger@nydailynews.com
Apr 15, 2009
Apr 7, 2009
HOW CHINESE
HOW CHINESE
Lishan Chang, Shen Chen, Eric Jiaju Lee, Tenzin Phuntsog, Lisa Ross, Yuh-Shioh Wong
Curated by Aileen June Wang and Eric Jiaju Lee
May 1 – June 5, 2009
Opening reception: Friday, May 1, 6 - 9pm
Panel discussion and reception: Friday, May 15, 5:30 - 7:30pm
Gallery 456
Chinese American Arts Council
456 Broadway, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10013
Gallery hours: M-F, 12-6pm
and by appointment
Tel: 212.431.9740
www.caacarts.org
HOW CHINESE, curated by Aileen June Wang and Eric Jiaju Lee, is a group exhibition that seeks to expand the current notion of contemporary Chinese art, defined by the most popular movements of Political Pop and Cynical Realism. The featured artists represent the Chinese diaspora and beyond, and their works reflect the intriguing confluence of Chinese and non-Chinese cultures in their lives. HOW CHINESE seeks to start a lively conversation about art and identity, and the role of cultural memory in artistic creativity. Artists: Lishan Chang, Eric Jiaju Lee, Tenzin Phuntsog, Lisa Ross, Shen Chen, Yuh-Shioh Wong.
Making It / Selections from the 2008 NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists
The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and Deutsche Bank invite you to Making It / Selections from the 2008 NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists, an exhibition of painting, photography, sculpture and video by participants of NYFA's Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program. (Lishan Chang is participated in this show.)
Celebrating Immigrant Heritage Week
Exhibition Date:
April 2 – July 15, 2009
Opening:
Thursday, April 23rd 2:00 – 5:00 pm (Tours at 2:30 pm & 3:30 pm)
Location :
Deutsche Bank Gallery
60 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005
All visitors MUST RSVP to attend. All RSVPs must be in by 2:00 pm on April 22nd
To RSVP contact:
TJ WITHAM
(212) 366-6900 ext. 207
tjwitham@nyfa.org
remember to bring a photo ID as it is required to enter the building
Apr 2, 2009
Dream in a Contemporary Secret Garden (Venue II)
Venue II: The Gallery/ Elga Wimmer PCC
Date: May 7 to June 13, 2009
OPening reception: Thursday, May 7, 6-8pm
ACAW reception: Thursday, May 14, 4-8pm
Opening Hours: Tuesday ti Saturday, noon-6pm or by appointment
526 West 26 #310, NYC 10001
Tel: 212-206-0006
Dream in a Contemporary Secret Garden (Venue I)
Venue I: Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York
Date: May 6- June 5, 2009
Opening reception: Wednesday May 13, 6-8pm
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm
Saturday, 9am to 11am
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York
1 East 42nd Street @ 5th Ave, New York, NY 10017
(212)697-6188
http://www.tpecc.org
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